Despicable Me 2 holds lead at UK box office

With the hot weather seeing some hefty drops for holdover films, Despicable Me 2 fell 60% but managed to hold the top spot at the UK box office for a second straight week.

Universal’s animated sequel added $5.9m (£3.99m) for a strong $34.1m (£22.9m) to date in the UK, surpassing its predecessor’s $30.1m (£20.2m) result in the process.

Monsters University arrives this weekend to provide stiff competition for the top spot, but first Despicable Me 2 will be looking to chase down The Croods’ $39m (£26.2m) UK result to become 2013’s biggest animation.

EONE

Impressing on its UK debut, eOne’s Now You See Me conjured up $4.3m (£2.9m) to land second.

The result for Louis Leterrier’s heist thriller includes $1.6m (£1.1m) in previews and marks the distributor’s second-best debut of 2013, behind The Impossible. Outside of existing properties The Incredible Hulk and Clash of the Titans, it also marks Leterrier’s best-ever UK bow.

It’s worth noting too that without previews, Now You See Me’s Friday-Sunday result of $2.7m (£1.8m) would have still seen it chart second.

Also for eOne, Behind the Candelabra has grossed a strong $4.6m (£3.1m) to date.

FOX

Thanks to its previews totalling a non-final $710,000 (£477,000), The Internship debuted third behind Now You See Me.

Fox’s comedy laughed its way to $1.9m (£1.2m) over its five-day opening from its 411 sites at a sturdy average of $4,526 (£3,037). That result is just behind with director Shawn Levy’s last foray into comedy, Date Night, which opened with $2m (£1.3m) including $496,000 (£332,912) in previews.

However it is around £1m off Wedding Crashers, which last paired Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as leads. That film debuted with $3.3m (£2.2m) including previews of $521,000 (£349,634).

Also for Fox, Epic has taken $19.2m (£12.2m) to date, while The East has grossed $201,000 (£134,609).

PARAMOUNT

Falling one place to fourth, Paramount’s World War Z scared up $1.2m (£830,106) in its third weekend in play.

Marc Forster’s 3D adaptation of Max Brooks’ novel is now up to a decent $18.2m (£12.2m) in the UK, currently the third-best international performance for the film behind South Korea and Russia.

WARNER BROS

Rounding off this week’s top five was Man of Steel which took $1.2m (£802,763) as it closed in on £30m in the UK.

Warner Bros’ 3D reboot of Superman has now soared to $42.2m (£28.4m) and while it won’t catch Iron Man 3 as 2013’s best superhero outing, it’s a healthy performance for a reboot.

By comparison, Batman Begins managed $24.4m (£16.4m) in its UK run.

Also for Warner Bros, The Hangover Part III and The Great Gatsby have grossed $28.7m (£19.3m) and $23.2m (£15.6m), respectively.

SONY

Crossing the £3m mark after ten days in play, This is the End added a non-final $750,000 (£503,000) in its second weekend. Sony’s apocalypse comedy is now up to $4.5m (£3.03m) in the UK.

Also for Sony, Before Midnight is up to $933,000 (£626,000) and, despite a strong start, will struggle to catch Before Sunset’s $1.4m (£932,259) UK result.

Meanwhile, After Earth has taken $9.3m (£6.2m) to date.

STUDIOCANAL

Opening in 66 sites through StudioCanal, The Bling Ring recorded an estimated $200,000 (£133,788) debut. That result is ahead of director’s Sofia Coppola’s last film Somewhere, which opened with $188,000 (£125,581) from 62 sites, but behind Coppola’s best UK opener which belongs to Lost in Translation’s $1.2m (£797,071) UK bow from 96 sites.

PICTUREHOUSE

Ben Wheatley’s ambitious multi-platform release A Field in England played in 17 sites over the weekend, resulting in a $32,000 (£21,399) debut at a $1,876 (£1,259) average. The film played to sold-out crowds at the likes of the Ritzy in London, Dukes at Komedia in Brighton and the Curzon Soho.

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